November 21, 2017

Wow was Sunday windy. At Sebonac Inlet many heeded the call, but only half launched. With the dredging barge just offshore I thought "better overpowered than underpowered" and rigged my 4.2, which was a joke. It took all of one second to realize I needed to aim for a spot to get off the board, kick the tail around and get back to rig down. Switched to my smallest sail...a 3.4 that I bought used ten years ago but still holds up!...and was still sailing sheeted out.

Frank was shredding of course (he is, after all, Frank.) Joe Natalie was doing well on a 3.7. Bruce tried a 3.something, as did CPU John. On shore Scott, the Wolf, Jan, Christian, young Jonathan and others watched and thought better of it. Joe suggested I crank my downhaul on the 3.4, and this did help. I tried one jump...only got up about three feet, but then a gust kept me up there for an extra second. Hang time! Tried to jibe but bearing off felt suicidal so I just dropped the sail and walked to the northern beach to catch my breath.

Then the wind came up more. The beach break was so intense...three foot crunchers tightly spaced, that for five minutes I couldn't launch. This never happens at Sebonac. When I finally made it back CPU John was derigging, commenting "I came, I sailed a little bit, no reason to risk injury." Sounded right to me, so I packed it up as well.

Frank sailed until sunset.

(Top: my 3.4/77 liter combo was still too big for me. That's the dredging boat in the right rear. Bottom: Sunset photo by Frank.)

P.S. On matters of neoprene the water is now cold IMHO. Hood, gloves, heavy booties required.